Cognition

Cognition is the act of knowing or the process involved in knowing. When
we "know" something, it means that we are not only aware or
conscious of it, but that we can, in a way, make some sort of judgment
about it. Cognition is therefore a very broad term that covers a
complicated mental process involving such functions as perception,
learning, memory, and problem solving.

How we know

The nature of cognition, or how we know, has been the subject of
investigation since the time of the ancient Greeks. It has been studied by
both philosophers and scientists. Around 1970, a new field of
investigation called cognitive psychology began to emerge. Many of its
practitioners study the brain and compare it to a computer in terms of its
information storage and retrieval functions. However, most people who
study cognition recognize that they are not focusing just on how the brain
works as an organ, but are really more concerned with how the
mind
actually works. While there are still several competing theories all
trying to explain how the mind works (or how we know), one idea common to
most of them is that the mind builds concepts—which are like large
symbolic groupings, patterns, or categories—that represent actual
things in the real world. It then uses these concepts or patterns that it
has already built when it meets a new object or event, and it can then
compare the new object to the concept it has already stored.

Elements of cognition

Cognition includes several elements or processes that all work to describe
how our knowledge is built up and our judgments are made. Among these many
elements are the processes of perceiving, recognizing, conceptualizing,
learning, reasoning, problem solving, memory, and language. Some of these
processes may include others (for example, problem solving might be
considered to be part of reasoning).

Words to Know

Cognitive psychology:
School of psychology that focuses on how people perceive, store, and
interpret information through such thought processes as memory,
language, and problem solving.

Language:
The use by humans of voice sounds and written symbols representing
those sounds in organized combinations to express and to communicate
thoughts and feelings.

Learning:
Thorough knowledge or skill gained by study.

Memory:
The power or ability of remembering past experiences.

Perception:
The ability, act, or process of becoming aware of one's
surrounding environment through the senses.

Reasoning:
The drawing of conclusions and judgments through the use of reason.

Perception.
Perception or perceiving refers to the information we get from our five
senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste). Studies have shown that
our human senses perceive or take in far more information or data than our
nervous systems can ever process or pay attention to. We get around this
by organizing this data into chunks or groups, so that when we see a new
object (such as a new type of car), we automatically compare it against
the vast number of patterns or concepts we already have stored in our
brains. When we find that it matches a concept—since we probably
already have a general idea of what "carness" is, for
example—we do not have to then process every little bit of detailed
information about this new car to know that it is a car (that is, in order
to perceive it or recognize and understand it as a car). At the end of
this process, we
have made a judgment of some sort about this new thing. Once scientists
discovered this aspect of perception, they were better able to explain how
people often see what they expect to see and are sometimes in fact
mistaken. This happens when we take only that first, matching impression
of something and conclude that it is correct (that is, that the reality is
the same as the idea of it we have in our minds) without taking the time
to check out all the details of a thing. However, this ability to
conceptualize or to create concepts in our minds is very important and is
one of the key functions or processes of cognition or knowing.

Reasoning and problem solving.
Reasoning could be described as the process by which people
systematically develop different arguments and, after consideration,
arrive at a conclusion by choosing one. Like reasoning, problem solving
also involves comparing things, but it is always aimed at coming to some
sort of a solution. We usually do this by creating models of the problem
in our minds and then comparing and judging the possible solutions. One
thing we know about reasoning and problem solving is that it is usually
much more difficult for people to do when it remains in the abstract. In
other words, most people can more easily solve a problem if it is concrete
than if it remains abstract. A common example given is the game
"Rock breaks scissors, scissors cut paper, paper

A test of a child's cognition is his or her ability to
remember the rules to certain games, and to be able to come up with
strategies for winning.
(Reproduced by permission of

Learning.
Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980) spent a lifetime
studying how children learn, and he identified three stages that children
go through as they grow and develop. In the first and simplest stage, an
infant believes that an object is still where he or she first saw it, even
though the infant had seen it moved to another place. In the second stage,
the young child knows that it is at times separate from its environment

Cognition can be demonstrated by children when they find patterns and
strategies for success.
(Reproduced by permission of

Field Mark Publications

.)

and has developed concepts for things whether he or she is presently
involved with them or not. The final, more mature stage has the older
child understanding how to use symbols for things (such as things having
names) and developing the ability to speak and use those symbols in
language.

Memory.
Memory, or the ability to recall something that was learned, is another
cognitive function that is very important to learning. Scientists usually
divide it into short-term and long-term memory. Our short-term memory
seems to have a limited capacity, is very much involved with our everyday
speech, and appears very important to our identity or our sense of self
(who we are). Long-term memory stores information for much longer periods
of time and seems to show no limitations at all. The three basic processes
common to both types of memory—encoding or putting information into
memory, storage, and retrieval—are exactly those used in
today's computers.

Language.
Although many animals besides human beings have a brain, nervous system,
and some cognitive functions (that is, they share in a way many of the
same processes of cognition), the one function of cognition that sets
humans apart from other animals is the ability to communicate through
language. Humans are unique in that they can express concepts as words.
Some say that it is through studying language that we will gain an
understanding of how the mind works. We do know that we form sentences
with our words that allows us to express not just a single concept but
complex ideas, rules, and propositions.

Understanding cognition or figuring out the process involved in knowing is
something science has only really just begun. However, the combined work
of philosophers, psychologists, and other scientists using new
technologies for studying the brain may result in the next great
scientific breakthrough—the explanation of how the human brain
carries out its mental task of knowing.